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Phono Cartridge Spacer Material Recommendation?

Isaac C.

Isaac C.

Cat Hoarder
Hello everyone I am wondering what is a good material to use for a spacer. I need a spacer about 7mm thick as my tonearm height adjustment is as low as it goes and my VTA is not as close as I would like. I have some 1mm thick plexiglass/acrylic which I could make 7 spacers from, would this be an ok material to use? I just want something that will have minimum effect on sound quality. Thanks for suggestions!
 
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I recommend using the material that your headshell is made of. The other option is to find material that has a similar speed of sound to the headshell such as titanium and aluminum.
 
Could be arguments to using a dissimilar material for damping or resonance reasons. I'd probably go for something that doesn't compress though. Some type of plastic most likely, it wouldn't be too hard to cut a spacer block and file or drill a pair of holes for the screws to pass through. If weight is really a concern, you should be able to use tubular spacers rather than a solid block. That turns into potential questions of how rigid the mounting is though.
 
AvFan said:
I recommend using the material that your headshell is made of. The other option is to find material that has a similar speed of sound to the headshell such as titanium and aluminum.
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Now I think about it, I have an aluminum butterfly valve from a car throttle body that I might could use.

I really hate having to use a spacer, but the cartridge body is not very tall and does not offer enough height for VTA adjustment.
 
Isaac C. said:
the cartridge body is not very tall and does not offer enough height for VTA adjustment.
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You need to out the products that are needing all this extra work. Might be someone that has gone through this before. We don't know anything except it is a tonearm and a cartridge. Name em.

Balsa wood would compress over time and not be any good at all.
 
I'd go with plastic. Easy to work with and relatively light. And if you use a wedge shaped piece you can go even thinner/lighter; just make sure the thick part of the wedge is at the back!

Hardware stores often have plastic (or wood) wedge shims for windows or cabinets.
 
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I have a small balsa shim for spacing and azimuth correction on one of my headshells and it hasn't compressed or shifted over time, FWIW.
 
Blue Shadow said:
You need to out the products that are needing all this extra work. Might be someone that has gone through this before. We don't know anything except it is a tonearm and a cartridge. Name em.

Balsa wood would compress over time and not be any good at all.
Click to expand...

It's an Acos Lustre GST 1 with an Ortofon F15E.
 
Hey maybe it's time for a nice ¼" platter mat or some material. I'd cut whatever spacers you use for this cartridge. If you need to use the 1mm sheets, I'd put a small pinch of dumdum/3M Strip Caulk/or some other material to keep them from shifting. Not enough to make any height difference, though.
 
I ended up making a 1/8" spacer out of a piece of trim wood, I'm not sure exactly what type of wood, possible poplar. Regardless, It sounds much better than it did, the treble and bass is much more balanced, the soundstage is broader, minute details are much more noticeable (lightly played cymbals and background instruments are more defined). I thought I needed a thicker spacer, but once I tried the 1/8" it was perfect.
 
I think a spacer needs to be solid, so i would avoid a soft wood like balsa.

Many people have spoken about the benefits/improvements of using carbon fibre as spacers, it can be bought via ebay in strips in various thicknesses.
 
Carbon fibre is covered with a resin that could play a roll but for less than more.
Wood itself have some sound properties, but again there is not such a TT that can play all the sound range perfectly.
AG.
 
Edit: I made two spacers yesterday out of plastic similar to what is used on the cartridge, I like the looks of these better than the wood spacer. Honestly, I can't tell any difference in sound from the wood vs plastic. VTA is right on the money though with the plastic spacers.
 
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